English Patinet

The Great War broke apart families all over the globe. Before the war England had control of colonies all over the world. The colonies were forced to send troops to fight for England at the advance of the German and Italian forces across Europe and Africa. Kips family is from India, which was under English control at the time. His family has a custom for the first Child to enter the military. However, Kips older brother refused to give into anything that implied English domination. “Kip is cheated by the Englishness in a very different way; He is taken in by its values, its false romance” (Spice, 201). While his brother sees the British for what they are and prefers to sit out the war in a Punjabi jail, Kip ob

eys the call of empire and risks his life to defend Englishness (Spice, 201). Kip, who was expected to be a doctor, joined the army instead while his brother was thrown in jail. “He was the second son. “The oldest son would go into the army, the next brother would be a doctor, a brother after that would be a businessman” (Ondaatje, 182).

Identity is inescapable. The characters in the novel couldn’t elude who they were even with their best attempts. Almasy desperately tries to elude the force of nationality, living in the desert where he creates for himself an alternate identity, one in which family and nation doesn’t matter. Almasy forges this identity through his character, his work, and his interactions with others. The reality invades his life in the desert. Desperate for help, Almasy is locked up just because his name sounds foreign. His identity follows him even after he is burned beyond recognition, when Caravaggio realizes that the English patient is not even English.

Some topics in this essay:
Lady Mordan, Geoffrey Clifton, Giorgione Hiroshima, Lord Suffolk, , San Girolamo, Englishness Spice, Americans Identity, Kip Hana, India English, lord suffolk, love katherine, villa san, spice 201, san girolamo, english patient, atomic bomb, villa san girolamo, racial differences, spice 201 kip, 201 kip, child death,